Recently, a mobile terminal has become a necessity indispensable to modern people and is used regardless of age or gender, and service providers and terminal manufacturers competitively develop a product (or a service) for differentiation from other companies.
For example, the mobile terminal has developed to a multimedia apparatus that can provide a phonebook, games, a Short Message Service (SMS), an Electronic (E)-mail, a morning call, a Motion Picture Expert Group Audio Layer-3 (MP3) player, a schedule management function, a digital camera, a multimedia message and a wireless Internet service, to provide various services.
Recently, instead of a paper transaction coupon that is printed on paper having a predetermined size and provided, an electronic transaction coupon is provided via the Internet. To use the electronic transaction coupon, a user prints the electronic transaction coupon via an output unit such as a printer or shows an electronic transaction coupon output on a mobile terminal screen to a seller to purchase a relevant product, so that the electronic transaction coupon is also called a mobile transaction coupon. Here, the mobile transaction coupon includes an electronic gift certificate, an electronic discount coupon, and an electronic ticket. A user may exchange an item using the mobile transaction coupon, change a payment money for purchase of an item, or enter a physical space or use a transportation means using the mobile transaction coupon instead of an airline ticket, a movie ticket, a performance ticket, a train ticket, etc.
The mobile transaction coupon may include an identify code and an identify character including information regarding the mobile transaction coupon.
The identify code is an image code used for determining validity of the mobile transaction coupon. Generally, a bar code is used as the identify code, and the identify character includes a type (for example, a gift certificate, a discount coupon, a ticket, etc.) of a mobile transaction coupon, a use period, cautions for use, etc.
However, as a mobile transaction coupon is diversified and the number of mobile transaction coupons increases, a user stores a plurality of mobile transaction coupons in a mobile terminal and the user should determine each mobile transaction coupon and use a mobile transaction coupon required for product purchase.
At this point, in the case where the user was not able to use a mobile transaction coupon within a use period, the mobile transaction coupon whose use period has expired becomes an invalid transaction coupon.
Generally, the mobile transaction coupon is a coupon that a user purchases by paying a predetermined amount of money. When the use period expires, a monetary loss occurs.
In addition, generally, the mobile terminal stores a received mobile transaction coupon in a predetermined storage folder by receiving the mobile transaction coupon in a message format (for example, a short message, a multimedia message, an electronic mail message, etc.).
For example, when the mobile terminal receives a mobile transaction coupon using a short message, the received mobile transaction coupon is stored in a message storage area. However, a reception message list of the mobile terminal is sorted in a rising order for a reception time. When an amount of messages transmitted/received by a user is large, a sequence of the received mobile transaction coupon is pushed to a lower ranking of the reception message list. Therefore, a user of the mobile terminal has an inconvenience of having to perform a repeated scroll operation and view an item of the reception message list in order to view a mobile transaction coupon stored in advance.
Therefore, to solve the above problem, an apparatus and a method for managing a mobile transaction coupon in a mobile terminal are required.